Room air conditioning apparatus



Jan. 1, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 29, 1959 m w v F INVENTOR w /NM AAAA /A/// /M M Q 6 August @2172] BY of y w ATTORNEYS Jan. 1, 1963 A. GUHL ROOM AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 29, 1959 INVENTOR August @u/z] ATTORNEY5 -y x... F; A

United rates Patent Ofifice 3,070,976 Patented Jan. 1, 1963 3,070,976 ROOM AIR CONDKTIQNTNG APPARATUS August Guhl, Wilfriedstrasse 7, Zurich, Switzerland Filed Dec. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 862,527 1 Claim. (Cl. 62-264) Room air conditioning equipment which has become known in the past, and in which by a sparkless silent electric discharge ozone is produced, which spreads 1n the air in the room in question and due to its highly bactericidal action quickly improves the air, has the disadvantage that the ozone O is emitted prematurely, that it to say, before decomposing into and also that it is non-uniformly distributed. This causes the respiratory organs and mucous membranes of sensitive persons to be attacked, frequently headaches are also caused.

The subject-matter of the invention is a process and device for conditioning air in rooms which is intended to remove these disadvantages. The present method is dis tinguished from all previous methods for conditionng air in rooms by means of ozone substantially by the fact that ozone (O is generated in a closed duct provided with inlet and outlet, by means of an ozoniser mounted in the duct, and the ozone is mixed with the flow of air flowing into the room, and is conveyed through the duct for a suflicient length of time to ensure that the O is completely decomposed into 0 so that the flow of air through the outlet is more quickly returned to the room to be conditioned, enriched with oxygen and in an odourless condition.

The device suitable for carrying out the process is characterised in that in a closed duct, provided at its ends with inlet and outlet, and forming a component of the room to be air-conditioned, a blower and a long ozoniser are arranged immediately behind the inlet, and that the duct length is calculated so that the ozone generated by silent electric discharges has sufficient time to decompose completely into oxygen, as it carries out its germicidal action.

The drawing shows diagrammatically some examples of embodiments of the invention, and in the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a first embodiment, partly in section,

FlG. 2 is a section of a detail, on a larger scale,

FIG. 3 is a cross-section along the line III-III in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a front view of another embodiment,

FIG. 5 is a detail of the longitudinal section, on a larger scale,

H6. 6 is a section along the line III-III of FIG. 5.

The first embodiment shown in the drawings, FIGS. 1-3 has a duct 1 made of heat-insulating material such as wood, compressed cork, hardboard, hard plastic foam, and the like, so that the heat released during the decomposition of the 0 remains stored. The cross-section may be, for instance, rectangular and the duct may be fixed adjacent to the ceiling D and one of the four walls W. The duct extends preferably over the entire length of the room R to be conditioned, and is closed at both ends. The duct side walls are slotted at both ends to form an air inlet 2 and an air outlet 3. Immediately behind the air inlet 2, an ozone generator 4 with the appropriate transformer 5 and a fan or blower 6 are arranged in the duct 1. The ozoniser has an elongated shape. Ozone (0 is generated in three cylindrical ozone generator sets 4a by sparkless electric silent discharges. The sets 4a are mounted by means of elastic holders 4b on the base plate 40 of the ozoniser.

The cross-section of the inlet and outlet apertures and the performance of the fan govern the speed of flow of air through the duct 1. The speed of fiow is designed with respect to the duct length so that the ozone carried along by the flow of air has time to act intensively on the air to be cleaned, and to disintegrate into oxygen. The conversion of 0 into 0 produces odourless air, free from bacteria and rich in oxygen, leaving the outlet 3. Due to the length of the ozoniser and the action of the electric silent discharges, the stream of air flowing through the duct is considerably heated, which facilitates the decomposition of the ozone, so that only air rich in oxygen leaves the duct at the aperture 3. The temperature inside the duct is higher than that inside, the room to be conditioned, so that the decomposition of 0 into 0 is accelerated.

The duct 1 can also be arranged sunk into the wall W instead of fixed to the wall W, or it can be formed by pipes. It is also conceivable to generate the air pressure at a central compressed-air plant, and to admit it as a flow of air to the ducts accommodated in the various rooms of a building. However, it is more convenient to generate the ozone in the actual duots.

The embodiment of FIGS. 4-6 shows another design. In rooms with many people, and equipped with heatemitting installations or units, the temperature rises normally, both in summer and in winter, in such a way that the persons in the room feel uncomfortable and their output suffers. It is true that air conditioning has been known for a long time, and in the conventional air-conditioning equipment air is simply introduced from a refrigerator. This is then ordinary cooled air, which merely conditions the temperature, but in first-class installations the air is also filtered. However, a qualitative improvement of the room atmosphere does not take place in this admission of cool air, also the prevailing unpleasant odours are not removed.

According to FIGS. 4-6, 1 again denotes the duct for the admission of the flow of air, the duct being provided at 2 with the air inlet aperture, and at 3 with the air outlet aperture. 4 denotes the ozone generator, 5 the appropriate transformer, and 6 the blower. According to the new design according to the invention, a heat exchanger 7 of known design is accommodated in the duct 1 behind the ozone generator 4 or between the latter and the outlet 3. The cooling coil 11 of the heat exchanger 7, which cooling coil carries the cooling medium, is con nected through a supply pipe 8 and a return pipe 9 with a refrigerator plant 10, accommodated in the present case outside the room R to be conditioned, in the adjacent room R. The flow of air mixed with ozone (0 passes on its way to the air outlet 3 the longitudinal fins 12 of the heat exchanger 7, these fins being arranged in the direction of the duct, so that the air is cooled. These longitudinal laminations 12 are intersected by the legs of the pipe yoke 11 through which the cooling medium flows. Of the longitudinal pipes 11a, connecting the ends of the pipe yokes 11 to each other, the lowermost one is the supply pipe 8, the upper one the return pipe 9. Cooling is effected directly as the air flow from the blower and passes along the ozone generator. Previous cooling would unfavourably affect the generation of ozone, because it has been shown that more ozone is produced under warm conditions. inversely, practical experiments have shown that it is advantageous to cool the air before the ozone is decomposed. For the control of the temperature it is naturally necessary to provide a control device so that the supply of cooling medium in the supply pipe 8 can be throttled down as required, and this control device is most conveniently actuated by a thermostat.

A single blower will sufiice to convey the flow of air along the ozone generator and through the heat exchanger. Measurements carried out with the aid of precision instruments showed that the temperature drop of 1 C. was effected by the cooling unit only when the ozone generator Was switched on, but not when the ozoniser was switched 01f. This phenomenon, one of the specific features of the invention, cannot be explained at present, but it is interesting that also additional generation of ozone does not increase the temperature drop, while the temperature drop does diminish if insufficient ozone is generated.

The generation of ozone by electric silent discharges, with subsequent cooling of the mixture of ozone with air and the disintegration of the ozone into oxygen before it passes into the room to be conditioned, establishes ideal conditions in the room, conditions which hitherto were unknown. Since with the ozone generator switched on the temperature is reduced by a further degree without any further action, and without additional performance being required from the heat exchanger, the efficiency of the apparatus is improved.

The room air conditioning installation described here is particularly suitable for day rooms, workshops, sales rooms, etc., where a fresh and evenly tempered atmosphere, rich in oxygen, is to prevail.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a now preferred example and embodiment of the invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

An apparatus for conditioning air in a room comprising an elongated imperforate, insulated straight duct adjacent a room wall, said duct having an air inlet only at one end and an air outlet only at the opposite end thereof, a blower in said duct immediately adjacent said air inlet, a transformer in said duct downstream of and adjacent to said blower, an ozone generator in said duct downstream of said blower and adjacent to and connected to said transformer for energisation thereby, and an air cooler in said duct downstream of said ozone generator, said ozone generator being disposed immediately adjacent said air inlet as opposed to being disposed adjacent said air outlet, whereby ozone generated by said ozone generator will move through said duct with the air passing through said duct a distance sufiicient to obtain substantial decomposition of the ozone within said duct.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,116,480 Smith May 3, 1938 2,259,803 Cumming Oct. 21, 1941 2,339,507 Nagy Jan. 18, 1944 2,586,893 Westling Feb. 26, 1952 2,825,102 Hicks Mar. 4, 1958 2,877,990 Goemann Mar. 17, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 695,213 France Dec. 12, 1930 

